<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>of leather journals and piano lessons by hi_hello_hey_there</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827477">of leather journals and piano lessons</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_hello_hey_there/pseuds/hi_hello_hey_there'>hi_hello_hey_there</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Carlos Can't Wait to See the Ghosts, Gen, Gift Giving, Luke Just Thinks the Molinas are Neat, piano lessons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:07:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827477</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_hello_hey_there/pseuds/hi_hello_hey_there</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"It reminded me of you."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos Molina &amp; Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942267</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>oh YES</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>of leather journals and piano lessons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The studio feels strangely empty when Carlos makes his way over to it one Sunday afternoon. With the weekend off from baseball and his homework completed the night before, it leaves the day completely, utterly empty and nothing can keep his attention longer than five minutes. So he finds himself where he always goes when neither Julie nor his dad are home: staring at the piano in the studio, fingers just barely ghosting over the keys. He plunks out the first few notes to Mary Had a Little Lamb with one hand, the other tightening around the leather journal in his grip.</p><p>He’s starting up Old Macdonald, the only other song his mother had been able to teach him, when he suddenly no longer feels alone. He can’t tell where the sensation is coming from, but it stops him in his tracks nonetheless. “Hello?” Ever since Julie had explained to him the guys in her band were in fact, well, <em> phantoms </em>and not holograms, Carlos had given up his dream of being a ghost hunter on the off chance one of his banishing rituals actually worked. That didn’t mean the information he had learned researching would just up and leave his head. He knew the temperature dropped when ghosts were around and that these ghosts in particular could move some things. In his research, he had also looked up Sunset Curve after finding the old CD among the things in the attic. He knows their names, how they died, what they played, but he doesn't know them. And he wants to.</p><p>“Which one of you is it? Reggie, Luke or Alex?” He steps out from behind the piano to look around, hoping that he’s not standing <em> in </em> someone. The thought makes him shiver. Soft acoustic guitar fills the room and Carlos whips his head around to see one of the guitars is missing from it’s usual stand. “Luke. Just the guy I was looking for.” The melody he's playing stops for a moment, sounding for all intents and purposes like a question. A smile makes its way to Carlos’s face. “Julie let slip the other day that your song writing book was getting full and I saw this when I was out with my friends yesterday and, well, here.” He places the journal on top of the piano. “I know we don’t know each other yet, but-" He pauses for a moment, unsure if he's overstepped his limits again, before saying, <strong>"It reminded me of you.”</strong></p><p>The guitar music stops again and Carlos notices the instrument pop back into its place. If he concentrates hard enough, he can feel the center of the coldness in the room make its way towards him and he can almost see Luke walking across the room to the piano. There’s a moment’s hesitation before Carlos watches the journal flip open and a pencil float off the music rack, his jaw going slack as they move. It’s barely legible, but the words <em> thanks little man </em> appear on the first page. “Dude, your handwriting sucks.” There’s a slight hum in the air, like the sound old lights make, and Carlos can picture Luke laughing.</p><p>They fall into a comfortable silence, Carlos once again taking up his seat on the bench. There’s movement beside him as the pencil picks up writing. When it drops, he slides the journal towards him to read <em> were you playing something when I came in? </em></p><p>“Yeah,” Carlos responds, not able to keep the tinge of dejectedness out of his voice. “Just Old Macdonald. My mom tried to teach me when I was younger, but I never had the gift for it like Julie did.” He pushes down one note over and over again. “I wish I had tried harder.” He doesn’t know where the impulse to divulge that information came from, but he’s glad he’s said it; it feels like something of a weight off his shoulders. A higher, softer note harmonizes with his own, Carlos watching the offending key bob up and down in awe.</p><p>“Can you hear me?” It’s a quiet, barely there whisper of a question, but Carlos nods. Soon, more notes join and an intricate melody plays with his solitary note in the background. Carlos is amazed that the piano doesn’t disappear entirely like their instruments usually do, but maybe that’s because this one isn’t Luke’s. “I could- I could teach you.” There’s hesitation in Luke’s voice and Carlos’s hand falls off the piano. “I know I’m not your mom and I’m not trying to replace her or anything, I just… I think you can learn anything if you put your mind to it.”</p><p>Julie had tried to teach him too, when their mom was still alive, but that had flopped as well and he hadn’t given it a real go again since. But Luke was offering, even if he couldn’t be seen, to be his teacher. “Yeah. That sounds good.”</p><p>Carlos can hear the smile in Luke’s voice as he says, “Awesome! So the first thing we’re gonna do is teach you the scales.”</p><p>~ ~ ~</p><p>An hour and a half later, they’ve cycled through all of what Luke calls the “major keys” and they’re moving on to the “natural minor” ones. Luke has to keep up a steady stream of playing himself to be heard, but it doesn’t really distract Carlos from listening. “The only difference is the pattern of half and whole notes,” Luke explains as he demonstrates. “Whole, half, whole. Whole, half, whole, whole.” Carlos mimics him. “You’ve got it! Way to go, little man.” Carlos feels a ghostly hand ruffle his hair and his eyes widen in shock.</p><p>“I felt that,” Carlos proclaims. “I felt that!”</p><p>“Really? Oh my god! It took a lot of energy, but you felt it?”</p><p>“Yes! Try again.” Carlos holds out his fist and waits. He thinks maybe this one’s a little too advanced as time ticks forward. Maybe it was an accident the first time.</p><p>And then he feels the gentle bump of a fist against his own, the tinkling of high notes on the piano stopping altogether. He hears a quiet “Woo hoo!” and starts chuckling. The chill he’d been feeling rolling off of Luke moves from beside him on the piano bench, the distant sound of Luke’s hooting and hollering following after him. Carlos can visualize him running around the room, his laughter only growing in intensity.</p><p>That’s how Julie and Flynn find him when they enter the studio a few minutes later: clutching at his sides with tears of joy streaming down his face, still laughing. Julie’s eyes follow an invisible trail around the room, a look of amusement taking over her face. Then she suddenly looks to her left and says, “Tell him to stop before he accidentally breaks something.” Her eyes stop moving and she’s shaking her head fondly at who Carlos can only assume are the others. “What’s all this about?”</p><p>“He gave me a fistbump!” Carlos shouts out.</p><p>“Freaky that you guys said that in unison,” Julie remarks as Flynn cries, “What!? I want a fistbump from a ghost!”</p><p>“Luke, come here.” Carlos makes his way over to Flynn, coaxing her hand out of her pocket and into a fist. “Concentrate. You can do it!”</p><p>The room is still for all of thirty seconds until Flynn is shouting, “Oh my god! That was awesome!” Then everyone starts giggling and Carlos hears the telltale buzz of ghost laughter.</p><p>“I guess we’ll work on being seen next, huh?” Julie asks, looking around at the guys, a smile etched on her face. Carlos thinks as his sister laughs at something one of them said that he could come to love these people. For making life interesting, for all the joy they share, but mostly for bringing Julie back to them and music with her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's raining here which is just the best writing/editing weather. Anyway, I just wanted to say, I'm gonna try to make these little stories stand alones and if you don't want to read a specific one, you should be able to skip it. Let me know if that doesn't work. I've gotten a few requests and a few ideas of my own, but I'm also taking more requests from the list <a href="https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you">here</a>. I'm working on/have written stories for 3, 10, 12, 31, 38, 39 44, 63, 65, 67, 83, 86, and 99 but all the other ones are free. You can either drop a comment here or message me on tumblr with questions, comments, or requests. Thank you so much for reading! I love you, lovelies.</p><p>main: <a href="https://hi-hello-hey-there.tumblr.com/">hi-hello-hey-there</a><br/>side: <a href="https://toziers-token.tumblr.com/">toziers-token</a></p><p>love, blue</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>